Carmelites Guest House

We travel often and were appalled by the male host's attitude at Carmelite GuestHouse. The three-story historic building has several very steep, narrow staircases. We had to carry our two heavy suitcases up them because the host said his back was bad. When we asked why the website described it as a two-story guesthouse, he spoke down to us: "You Americans, you don't understand, ground Floor is Zero, then 1st floor, then 2nd floor, which is where the guest room is". That was an unwelcoming way to explain it. When my husband asked whether other guests were arriving, the host said we'd have to share the room with them if they did. He could have simply explained kindly that the hotel has only one room. Later, when my husband asked how to get hot water from the unfamiliar bathroom faucet, the host said irritably that he didn't know because he doesn't use the guest bathroom. As the host, shouldn't he know whether it has hot water? He told us there was a cat that freely comes and goes, and we'd need to keep our door shut if we didn't want it in our room because it explores. He then went off to his room to work. I'm severely allergic to cats and had already started sneezing and coughing, so my husband said we needed to leave. He also has a bad back and had struggled carrying our bags up the stairs. The host heard the noise as my husband carried them back down and came out, irritably asking what we were doing. My husband explained that we couldn't stay because of my severe cat allergies, including sneezing, coughing, and hyperventilation, as well as the steep stairs. The host quickly said, “she’s not allergic!”. My husband asked how he could know that when he could see me sneezing and coughing. He had no response. We also said we couldn't manage those stairs during our stay and told him he was rude and unwelcoming. He said he'd charge for the full stay even if we left. We offered to pay for one night, but he insisted on charging us for all three. I felt so intimidated that I signed the bill. My husband had been busy taking our luggage downstairs himself and, when he learned of the charge, told the host we'd dispute it. It would be awful if friends we recommended this place to were treated the same way. This was a terrible experience in Brussels, and we don't recommend the Carmelites Guesthouse.